Betrayal

A short story written in the style of Edgar Allan Poe

Betrayal

I WAS sick -- sick unto death with that long agony.  She had betrayed me, it must be.  Two long years we have tried and failed, and yet she is with child?  No, no it could not be mine.  She had betrayed our love.  I could not bear the agony, the hatred I now felt for my wife. I felt that I was  to be rid of it or my soul be tortured forever.  I planned, I schemed, I would be rid of this terrible agony, oh yes, soon, very very soon, I would be at peace.

My wife, she expected nothing.  She had no thoughts of what was to happen, no, she had no idea as she sat at the dinner table with a loving look in her eyes. Lies!!!! There is no love, no passion, all of it lies to hide the truth from me. It was time for me to commit the deed, there was no more time. The whole thought was now present -- feeble, scarcely sane, scarcely definite, -- but still entire. I proceeded at once, with the nervous energy of despair, to attempt its execution.

I bid my wife to come to the cellar with me, I wanted to fetch some wine to celebrate the occasion of her pregnancy. It is here I committed the deed.  She told me she was happy that she was pregnant and was looking forward to being a family, but I did not listen as the lies flew from her mouth. She turned to the wine racks, the time had come. As my wife had her back to me, I struck her over the head. She was knocked out and crumpled to the floor.  I moved the body into the coal chute.  I then began to brick up the opening.  I began to work quickly, quickly, for fear she would awake before I was done.  She did not.  The deed was done.  I was free, unoccupied of a long felt agony and jealousy, free to move on.

I moved my bed to the cellar and awaited for her to awake, to find herself concealed in the coal chute, and to realise that she would never again see light.  I wanted her to feel betrayed in the way I did.  I waited for many hours when suddenly came a agonizing cry from the chute, and then another.  She was awake.  I listened for a long while to her cries and screams, but said nothing. After many hours, I went to bed. I slept next to the dark tomb.

This I did for three days, when from out of the chute I heard a different cry:  the cry of a child. The damned spawn of my wife's treachery would share the same fate.  By the fifth day all crying had stopped, there were no more screams and still I waited.  I waited for three more days.  I could not stop thinking about with whom my wife betrayed me, but could not think of a single man. A fearful idea now suddenly drove the blood in torrents upon my heart, and for a brief period, I once more relapsed into insensibility. Upon recovering, I at once started to my feet, trembling convulsively in every fibre.  I tore open the tomb, desperately trying to reach the victims, and when I did, I stood horrified  for they both lay dead.

O God of Heaven, what have I done!  My wife's loving face was the image of innocence and laying next to her a boy. The infant’s face, the mirror image of mine! Lord have mercy I cried out in agony!

Reviews

[Bowers]

Oh, My God. This made me stop, still. It kept me intrigued the entire read, and I have to say, sir, you will be a future Poe for sure! I love this story, I love the deep anguish.... damn your good. the whole pregnancy, the innocence, and the epiphany at the end... How incredible. You have great talent! I admire your writing, greatly! Very impressed I am, a great read!

[Wabbajack]

Very Poe; the paranoia, the tragedy. This reminds me of the Tell Tale Heart.